The Press: Trial by Transcript

Washington reporters knew that the MacArthur story was shaping up as the
greatest controversy on Capitol Hill since the debates on slavery. But
all advance signs indicated that it would also be a historic case of
journalistic frustration; the committee had decided to bar press and
public from the hearings. The testimony would be fed out to the press
through a system of stenographers, censors and press aides, and
reporters feared that this cumbersome apparatus would delay the news
for hours, if not shut much of it off.